Assessment and recommendations
Strengthening the governance framework for digital government in Brazil
A comprehensive policy framework
Brazil’s Digital Governance Strategy (2016-19) is the main strategy on digital government policy providing a framework for programmes and actions. Approved in 2016, the strategy is aligned with the desired goal to shift from e-government to digital government. Updated in 2018, the strategy defines priorities such as promoting the availability of open government data, boosting the use of digital technologies for transparency purposes, improving the delivery and use of public digital services, securing the take-up of digital identity, developing evaluation and services’ satisfaction mechanisms, integrating digital services through interoperable public information technology (IT) systems and data, and increasing citizen participation through digital platforms.
In addition to the Digital Governance Strategy, two parallel policy initiatives contribute to the digital transformation of the Brazilian public sector:
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Brazilian Digital Transformation Strategy: Designed in 2017 and officially presented in March 2018, the strategy focuses on the development of a digital economy and society in Brazil. The strategy sets objectives for the transformation of the economy through a data-based economy, the potential of the Internet of Things and new business models.
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Efficient Brazil: This federal government programme gathers measures to simplify, modernise and improve the delivery of services to citizens and businesses. Several measures have a deep connection with digital government policies.
Besides these strategies, the Brazil’s Third Action Plan for Open Government (2016), the Cyber-defence Strategy and the Information Security Policy are also relevant policy documents for the Brazilian digital government panorama, prioritising policy areas that require government cross-sector co-ordination.
Together, the above strategies represent the level of priority assigned by the Brazilian federal government to mobilise the public sector, the private sector and civil society to strategically embrace the benefits of digital technologies to advance a digital government and public administration capable of serving an increasingly digitalised economy and society.
Nevertheless, the existence of several policies can weaken efforts to ensure a whole-of-government vision to co-ordinate and ensure the alignment of actions implemented by public, private and civil society stakeholders. The existence of multiple strategies can blur the institutional governance (see Chapter 2) and limit the efficient allocation of resources to support effective policy implementation. Insights and evidence gathered within the framework of this review point to a general agreement among key stakeholders on the risks of confusion in relation to targeted objectives, goals and leadership as a result of the proliferation of strategies.
Leadership and institutional set-ups
A clear, coherent and effective digital government policy requires adequate institutional arrangements to support its effective and efficient implementation. The Brazilian Secretariat of Information and Communication Technologies (Secretaria de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação, SETIC), reporting to the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management (Ministério do Planejamento, Desenvolvimento e Gestão) is responsible for leading and co-ordinating the digital government federal policy. SETIC is namely responsible for leading the Digital Governance Policy and implementing the Digital Governance Strategy (Estratégia de Governança Digital, EGD).
Additionally, the SETIC leads some exemplary initiatives at the federal level. These include the System of Administration of Information Technologies Resources (SISP) (see Chapter 4), the national Open Data Policy (Política de Dados Abertos), the Platform of Data Analysis of the Federal Government (Plataforma de Análise de Dados do Governo Federal), GOV Data, and the Digital Citizenship Platform (Plataforma de Cidadania Digital) (see Chapter 4).
Also responding to the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management, the Secretariat of Management (Secretaria de Gestão, SEGES) also plays a significant role in implementing the digital government policy given some of its responsibilities to lead projects of innovation and cross-cutting modernisation of the federal public sector. The Department of Modernization of Public Services and Innovation (Departmento de Modernizacão de Serviços Públicos e Inovação) also has dedicated responsibilities with regard to the digitalisation of public services.
Playing primarily a co-ordination-oriented role, the Civil House of the President of the Republic of Brazil (Casa Civil da Presidência da República) is expected to provide political support and sponsorship to strategic projects and initiatives being implemented to modernise the Brazilian public sector. In strong co-ordination with the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management, the Civil House supports the implementation of public sector reform policies, including digital government, across different sectors of the Brazilian government.
The number of initiatives developed by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management, with the active support of the Civil House of President of the Republic of Brazil, reflects the government’s commitment to improving the policies and practices that can enhance digital government development. Nevertheless, some key challenges remain in terms of leadership and institutional set-up.
The existence of different bodies with responsibilities in terms of digital government blurs clarity on strategic leadership, thereby having an impact on the definition of common policy goals and priorities, and on coherent and co-ordinated policy implementation.
Although the SETIC and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management are generally recognised as the main federal institutions responsible for the digital government policy area, SETIC appears to lack the necessary institutional resources and capabilities needed to enforce the Digital Governance Strategy across the government.
Additionally, uncertainty in sustained high-level political support and cross-cutting leadership is recognised by Brazilian stakeholders as a key challenge limiting improvements in policy performance and the strategic use of digital technologies within the public sector. Addressing this uncertainty, along with the need to secure funding mechanisms, provide effective authority and capacities for policy operationalisation, and reinforcing SETIC’s monitoring and evaluation responsibilities could also contribute to securing a stronger governance framework (e.g. through reinforced policy and an institutional basis) and improve co-ordination across the federal government.
The need to identify a clear institutional role supported by and an adequate institutional set-up, mandate and resources to strengthen the leadership and steering the Brazilian government’s efforts towards the digital transformation of the public sector.
Several Brazilian stakeholders interviewed during the OECD peer review mission to Brasilia in July 2017 also highlighted how this institutional figure could assume an important co-ordinating role of the chief information officers (CIOs) leading digital efforts in different sectors and across levels of government. With the adequate mandate, resources and tools for oversight, monitoring and evaluation of the progress made in the implementation of the strategy, this institutional position could contribute to improving the impact of decisions made on the use of digital technologies in the Brazilian public sector.
However, the institutional establishment of a role in charge of the digital transformation of the public sector should not be considered as a unique solution to the numerous challenges that Brazil faces in this policy area. The adoption of several policy levers – from digital key enablers to funding and evaluation mechanisms – are required to guarantee sound policy implementation of digital government in Brazil (see Chapters 3 and 4).
Towards co-ordination and a culture of co-operation
Given the horizontal nature of digital government, the existence of collective institutional co-ordinating mechanisms (e.g. steering committees, councils) that support policy coherency across sectors and levels of government is fundamental to ensuring the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of government efforts.
In Brazil, the System for the Administration of Information Technologies Resources (Sistema de Administração dos Recursos de Tecnologia da Informação, SISP) acts as the main institutional co-ordination mechanism across the different sectors of the executive branch of the Brazilian government. Established by Decree in 19941 and updated in 2011,2 the SISP provides institutional mechanisms to organise the operation, control, supervision and co-ordination of the information technology (IT) resources of the Brazilian government.
Yet, the Digital Governance Strategy foresees an additional mechanism for transversal co-ordination across the federal government. In fact, while the monitoring and evaluation of the Digital Governance Strategy is the responsibility of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Management, the strategy also foresees that each entity of the public administration at all levels should have a Direction Plan for Information and Communication Technologies (Plano Diretor de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação). Public entities should also put in place a Digital Governance Committee (Comitê de Governança Digital), bringing together senior officials from the top management and IT branches (Decree no. 8,638 of 15 January 2016).
These institutional mechanisms are important to improve co-ordination across sectors and levels of government, but additional efforts could also be undertaken in this area. The absence of a co-ordinating body to provide guidance and leadership, gathering efforts and building consensus on digital government priorities is a gap in the current governance for digital government in Brazil. Although it may be argued that such a co-ordination role is provided by SISP, its mandate and composition (mainly technical officials) are directed mostly to technological and/or technical issues, therefore missing out on the opportunity to provide the necessary strategic directions for digital government. The National Debureaucratization Council can contribute to improved cross-cutting co-ordination of the digital transformation of the public sector. Yet, its broader mandate (mainly focused on administrative modernisation) and composition (not representative of all government sectors) (see Chapter 2) hinder this body’s effective capacity to co-ordinate digital government efforts.
Strengthening institutional capabilities for the sound implementation of digital government policy in Brazil
Building digital capacities and skills
As in many OECD countries, even though the majority of Brazilian stakeholders from the public and private sectors recognise the urgency to prioritise the development of a strategy to address digital skills gaps and spread digital literacy and culture among public officials, few specific policy initiatives have been put in place.
An inadequate supply of skills remains a critical issue to be addressed in the Brazilian public sector: people are insufficiently skilled in data analysis, and there is a lack of personnel within the individual Brazilian public sector organisations to implement the policies outlined in the Digital Governance Strategy, despite growing efforts to provide capacity-building programmes and training activities at several levels. Digital skills are still generally assumed by most as technical ability, and not as a fundamental asset for most professional profiles, namely those with considerable levels of seniority. Thus, the CIO position in public sector organisations is typically not a top management or strategic position, but rather a middle management post, still in many cases perceived as the one responsible for handling operational and technical issues. Insights gathered within the frame of this review highlight that frequently the position was not covered by officials with the necessary combination of skills (e.g. leadership, technical and management skills).
Streamlining digital technology investments
The digital transformation of the public sector requires strategic planning and investments in digital technologies across sectors and levels of government. This implies being able to reap the full benefit of the digital transformation through the adoption of policy mechanisms that prioritise, structure, co-ordinate and evaluate expenditures on digital technologies across the public sector.
The analysis of the insights, evidence and data gathered for this review point to the following assessment:
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In Brazil, the Direction Plan for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the digital governance committee that each public entity should have in place can be important mechanisms to streamline digital technology investments. On the other hand, the fact that ICT expenses are labelled in a specific way for budgetary purposes reflects the government’s acknowledgement of the need to better monitor and co-ordinate these public investments.
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There appears to be a need to better co-ordinate digital technology investments across different sectors and levels of government.
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A lack of a cost-benefit approach was identified by most Brazilian federal government institutions during the review. Business case methodologies and specific project management models exist and are considered a best practice, but are not regularly and consistently used.
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The absence of a budget threshold for digital technology expenses was recognised as a limitation for the improved cross-sectoral and multi-level co-ordination of digital technology investments.
From ICT procurement to digital commissioning
The Brazilian ecosystem of stakeholders recognises the existence of room for improvement in ICT public procurement. Public sector representatives, the private sector and civil stakeholders seem to agree on the absence of a strategic policy for digital government procurement. ICT investments are mostly driven by an agency-thinking approach, rather than by a systems-thinking approach, leading to clear inefficiency disadvantages, missed opportunities for synergies and avoidable overlaps.
This review also underlines the need to improve the transparency and accountability of ICT public procurement, to support more optimisation, coherency and synergies of ICT investments. In response to this, an online interactive dashboard on ICT Spending in the Federal Government (Painel Gastos de TI) was launched in September 2017 by the Comptroller General of the Union (Controladoria Geral da União), reflecting the Brazilian government’s commitment to improving the transparency of ICT procurement.
The existence of two public companies – Serpro and Dataprev - developing specific solutions for the public sector has several advantages. The products are designed from the start based on public sector requirements, and additional coherence is expected from the provided solutions. Nevertheless, this has seemingly led to several situations of vendor-locked service provision, as well as non-competitive offers when compared with the prices available in the market.
Strengthening the foundations for integrated, citizen-driven, digital service delivery in Brazil
Key enablers for the integrated development of digital government
Brazil has made efforts in recent years to promote the development, use and reuse of digital key enablers across the public sector. However, according to the ecosystem of public stakeholders interviewed during the OECD fact-finding mission in July 2017, as well as the data collected from the Digital Government Survey of Brazil, the efforts appear to be insufficient. The following achievements and opportunities can be highlighted, however:
1. Digital electronic procedures
The Ministry of Planning, Development and Management leads the initiative named Electronic National Procedure (Processo Electrónico Nacional, PEN). The system’s main goal is to provide society with an additional channel for consulting and accessing information on the evolution of electronic procedures in the Brazilian public sector.
2. Interoperability
The ePing architecture – Standards of Interoperability of Electronic Government – reflects a Brazilian interoperability policy for the public sector. ePing defines a set of minimum requirements, policies and technical specifications governing the use of ICT in the public sector, establishing the basis for interoperability across public sector institutions. The Secretariat of Information and Communication Technologies also launched in 2018, in the context of the Efficient Brazil programme – the National Debureaucratization Council, a new interoperability platform called Conecta GOV, which makes available a catalogue of application programming interfaces (APIs) to be used by public sector organisations. Nevertheless, due to the inexistence of the proper policy levers that can make data exchange among public sector entities mandatory, the connection and integration of central databases is still a problem in Brazil. Legal constraints, silo-based mindsets, technical legacies and lack of political support are commonly identified by stakeholders as the main obstacles for an effective interoperability policy in Brazil.
3. Data governance
Mechanisms like the Global Model of Data and Processes Integration (http://modeloglobaldados.serpro.gov.br), the National Infrastructure of Open Data (http://dados.gov.br) and the relaunch in 2018 of a platform for data analysis - GovData - reflect the recognition of data as a strategic asset for the digitalisation of the public sector in Brazil. Nevertheless, the absence of data governance from the areas covered by the federal Digital Governance Policy may limit the type of management of government data lifecycles required to support the development of the necessary data architecture as an essential enabler of the establishment of the necessary data infrastructure. Despite the development of legal instruments (such as Decree no. 8,789 of 26 June 2016) aimed to support streamlining of data-sharing practices within the public sector, there is still room for improvement with regard to public sector data governance and a clearer linkage with the several priorities, initiatives and projects listed in the Digital Governance Strategy.
4. Digital basic registers
The Brazilian infrastructure of key basic registers is in development. Several registers are being digitised. For instance, the National System of Civil Registry Information (Sistema Nacional de Informações de Registro Civil, SIRC) was created in 2014, ensuring that all new entries in the register are digital while the remaining records are being digitised progressively. The Brazilian government’s commitment to standardising the information to be presented in registers should be noted, and a cross-cutting initiative is underway to promote the integration of the information systems. However, the insufficient infrastructure connectivity of the registers creates serious obstacles for digital government development. Additionally, the governance model and some institutional legacies in place pose challenges. For instance, Brazil has a mixed public-private system for the management of the civil register. Since the full digitisation of the civil registry could affect the business model that guarantees the private involvement in the process, some change resistance has been found to efforts to reform the current model.
5. Digital identity
In Brazil, diverse public identification documents have been digitalised (e.g. electronic version of the driver’s licence, the electronic payment card of the Bolsa Familia programme and several other labour and health documents). This is evidence of the federal government’s efforts to increasingly use digital technologies to promote efficiency across the public sector and raise the convenience of citizens’ interactions with government institutions. However, the development of a digital identification system, considered one of the central key enablers for digital government development, is delayed due to the complex digital and institutional environments and requirements to implement such a system, and the preponderance of other identity numbers used across the public sector to identify citizens. The mandate to develop a national digital identity framework has been recently attributed to the Supreme Electoral Court, which is also responsible for managing Brazil’s electronic voting system. The National Identification Document (Documento Nacional de Identificação, DNI) is currently being developed, bringing together different registers into one single document. The DNI will be integrated with Brazil Citizen (Brasil Cidadão), a system of single sign-on (or single login) for digital services.
The lack of development of most of the above-mentioned key enablers results in inefficiencies and lost opportunities for collaboration and prevents the development of more integrated service delivery approaches.
Boosting an open and collaborative culture
In Brazil, the potential for digital technologies to spur more open and collaborative processes with civil society was always assumed as one of the main assets of the digital revolution. The digital openness footprint can indeed be found in all structural policy programmes since 2000. Access and reuse of data and information, and citizen engagement through digital technologies, are central priorities of the current Digital Governance Strategy (EGD).
Several recent exemplary projects and initiatives reflect the Brazilian government’s commitment to using digital technologies to boost a culture of openness and engagement. For instance, the Brazilian Internet Bill of Rights (Marco Civil da Internet) institutionalises a large group of rights, duties and principles for the development of the Internet in Brazil (Law no. 12,965 of 23 April 2014). The bill is the result of wide public consultation and collaborative process. Topics such as net neutrality, privacy, personal data management, freedom of expression and knowledge sharing are addressed in the bill.
Brazil has strong experience in the adoption of open standards in the public sector, as well as in the development of open public software with the purpose of being freely reused across different sectors and levels of government. For instance, through the portal http://www.softwarepublico.gov.br, public entities, the private sector and civil society are invited to share and reuse software without any associated cost.
Brazil was also one of the first countries in the world to run elections totally based on an electronic voting system that has been used since 2000 by all voters. A biometric system of identification was added to all electronic ballot boxes - more than 500 000 units - by the Electoral Justice (Justiça Eleitoral).
Brazil has several examples that demonstrate the dynamism of its civil society in using ICT to promote more openness, transparency and citizen engagement regarding government activities. For instance, the http://Participa.br platform was developed as a portal for public discussion and consultation on policy issues. The platform has been used by different public sector institutions at the federal level to crowdsource inputs from citizens on initiatives relevant to digitalisation, such as the Internet of Things plan, the Digital Governance Strategy (see Chapter 2) and open data initiatives. Brazil also benefits from the availability of the National Policy on Social Participation and the National System on Social Participation, created and established in 2014.
According to some civil society representatives interviewed during the peer review mission, as well as data collected from the Digital Government Survey of Brazil, the country’s digital society movement resulted from the efforts of former public officials. Efforts in areas such as public software and open government data are clear examples of how policies of openness are at the top of the Brazilian government’s digital transformation agenda. Brazil was one of the co-founders of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), building on the well-grounded openness movement within the government and across civil society.
Although Brazil has several good examples of digital openness and collaboration in the public sector, and the Digital Governance Strategy attributes relevance to the topics, further efforts are required to drive co-creation of public value with civil society and to create a widespread culture of sharing and reuse of government data. As public sector trust is a recognised asset nowadays for better policies, civil society and other key actors like journalists should be considered as partners to promote integrity, fight corruption and spur the reuse of open government data and public sector information for value co-creation.
Greater pressure from civil society and within the administration could trigger the Brazilian government’s responsibility to properly seize the opportunities of the digital transformation for public sector openness and integrity and to prevent and fight corruption.
For instance, the Presidential Decree no. 8,777 of 11 May 2016 established the Brazilian national Open Data Policy. Among other provisions, the decree identified a set of public sector information categories to be prioritised for publication in open and machine-readable formats in an effort to fight corruption in Brazil, including the:
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names of civil servants in managerial and directive positions in state-owned enterprises and subsidiaries
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data from the Integrated Financial Management System (Siafi)
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information on the corporate structure and ownership of companies collected by the National Register of Legal Entities
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public procurement information collected through the Integrated General Services Administration (Sistema Integrado de Administração de Serviços Gerais, SIASG)
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cadaster and registration information related to the control of the execution of parliamentary amendments.
The Ministry of Transparency and Office of the Comptroller General (CGU) released data on the assets of state-owned companies’ directors and managers as a result of the provisions stated in the decree. The Ministry of Finance is also expected to release the registry of businesses’ beneficial ownership as open data. By releasing these datasets, the Brazilian government aims to reduce the risk of conflicts of interest with regard to partnerships between private sector organisations and civil servants, but the role and engagement of civil society and the media will be key in the actual co-creation of public value beyond data publication.
Transforming digital service delivery
In Brazil, the amount of services provided by the federal government is not substantial when compared with services provided by the states and the municipalities. The Services Portal (Portal de Serviços) (www.servicos.gov.br) is the main online one-stop shop for public service access and delivery at the level of the federal government. Citizens can access structured information about services provided by the government, grouped in large categories like education, health, economy and finance.
Even though several examples of transactional services provided entirely on line can be found (e.g. Criminal Record Certificate) the above-mentioned portal is mostly a single point of access to other federal government portals where the services are actually provided. This reflects a segmented approach to digital service delivery, organised according to the institutional set-up of the government, and not in line with the needs of citizens that should be driving how services are provided (e.g. according to life events approach).
The fragmentation of the digital service delivery context is also rooted in governance issues discussed in this review. On the one hand, the lack of a clear and solid digital government leadership with a mandate to steer digital service policies influences the fact that the delivery of public services mostly follows agency-based approaches, which is typical of an e-government - rather than a digital government - approach. On the other hand, the underdevelopment of digital key enablers contributes to the lack of integration in digital service delivery. Since the norms and/or incentives to better promote integration are not in place, public entities opt for institution-specific solutions and approaches that are easier to implement.
Aware of the need to improve the coherence of digital services provision across the federal administration, the Brazilian government launched the Platform of Digital Citizenship (Plataforma de Cidadania Digital) in December 2016. The cross-cutting initiative is focused on transforming the delivery of public services on line through: the improvement of the Services Portal (Portal de Serviços); the development of a unique digital authentication system; and an increase in the number of fully transactional services. This will better allow the evaluation of citizens’ satisfaction with digital services and improve the global monitoring of digital service delivery.
The prioritisation underway of key actions aimed to provide a sound framework and context for digital service delivery will enable the Brazilian government to shift from being mainly institution-centred in its service delivery practices to becoming more citizen-driven.